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User blog:Felicitations/Taking and Uploading Images for Dummies!
Help make the Dead Island Wiki a more beautiful place! Just follow these simple steps and you will be rewarded with chocolate, 72 virgins, and free trips to Disneyworld. Neglect to do so and you will be killed.* You Will Need 1. A screencapture program (for PC; if you want to take a screenshot on XBox or another platform, you'll have to figure it out on your own) PrintScreen does its job well, but is difficult to use due to the fact that you must minimize and paste every time you take a screen. Why not use a program designed to take in-game screenshots? Examples: Fraps, WeGame, Xfire Whatever you do, DO NOT use a camera or cameraphone to take a picture of your screen! It almost always looks horrid and makes you look silly and lazy. 2. Image editing software Microsoft Paint often results in lossy, pixelated, low-quality images. Who wants that? Nobody! There are lots of free image editing programs out there that can help you in your quest to make pretty pictures. Examples: Gimp, Paint.NET, IrfanView, Adobe Photoshop ($) 3. Patience Step 1: Take your picture! Dead Island has many UI elements that can interfere with the taking of screenshots--crosshairs, the minimap, the fatigue meter, etc. You must plan your shots around these elements. First off, equip a MedKit for all of your non-weapon photos. This removes the player's hands as well as the crosshairs from the screen. (Thanks to Carinth for making that handy discovery!) Next, position your character so that you have a nice view of your subject. For things such as barrels and plants, which do not have an interaction icon, this is very simple. For interactive objects, however, the black-and-white hand/weapon/"Press XYZ to interact" symbol can get in the way of your view. Some workarounds: *For things like weapons and inventory items, try picking them up, dropping them, then taking a screenshot within about a second. The hand icon takes some time to appear, so if you can focus on your subject before that, you're good to go. This can take a while, because dropped items can appear anywhere on the floor, and you may not be able to spot them before the icon appears. *Another way to avoid the icon is to position yourself so that the object is on the edge of your screen; it may take several adjustments, but the icon will eventually disappear. Just be sure that the subject does not look too warped; some items will look perfectly normal, while others will look impossibly stretched. If all else fails, go ahead and take the screenshot with the icon included for large objects; for objects small enough that the hand icon blocks them, just let them warp at the edge of your screen. Dead Island is not a perfect game, and some sacrifices must be made. If taking a picture of a character, stand close to them and try to position yourself so that the "Talk To" icon is hidden or inconspicuous. Most characters have a regular sequence of facial expressions and body motions. Try to time your screenshots so that you capture the character looking into the "camera." Sometimes this can make the character's neck look inhumanly long, stretched, or angled; if so, do your best to capture the character looking natural, even if they are not looking into the screen. Try to make sure that your subject isn't blinking in the photo. After your subject is in position, you may find that it is in shadows. You can also lighten images in your image editing software, but this will not work well for extremely dark images--try to position them in natural light if possible. Try using your in-game flashlight (T) for very dark areas. If the result is too bright, try waiting a minute or so; the flashlight will fade somewhat, giving a softer light. Everything in place? Good! Now go ahead and take your screenshot. For stationary objects and items, you may only need one; for characters, you may need to take up to a dozen screenshots to make sure that he or she isn't blinking, looking away, or making a strange facial expression. It is always a good idea to take more screenshots that you think you need; it's far easier to delete extra shots than to start over because you didn't get a good shot the first time. Step 2: Edit! In most games, including Dead Island, it is difficult or impossible to take a perfect screencapture that requires no editing. Even if you are taking a screenshot to demonstrate gameplay, in which the UI needs to be visible, you may need to brighten, sharpen, or otherwise enhance the image. Usually, however, you will want to take a picture of a certain subject--person, object, etc. In these cases, you'll need to crop the image so that the focus is on the subject. Usually, you will want the subject to take up most of the image; other times, you will need to include some of the background. Open up your image editing software of choice and use the crop tool. After cropping, determine whether the image needs to be enhanced. If the screenshot was taken outside or in a well-lit environment, you often won't need to adjust anything and can go ahead and upload it. Otherwise, try adjusting contrast, brightness, hue, and tone to ensure that the image is as clear and recognizable as possible. Now, save your image as a JPG/JPEG or PNG. Make sure to give your image a descriptive filename, such as "Charactername_Location" or "Closeup_WeaponName." You're ready to upload! Step 3: Upload! You've got your screenshot all gussied up and gorgeous. Now it's time to share! To upload, go to Upload Photo. Click "Browse," locate your image, and press OK. Under the "File Description" section, in "Summary," include a category. Make sure that it is an actual image category, like Category:Images of characters and not Category:Dead Island Characters. This will help others to find your image. You can include a description or not, it's up to you. Next, under "Licensing," give the image license. This will usually be either "none selected" or "I took this photo myself." Now choose whether you want to watch the file, and upload away! You've just made the Wiki a more beautiful place! Go have a cupcake, you deserve it. *none of these things will actually happen. Category:Blog posts